


Surprises

by jencsi



Category: CSI Crime Scene Investigation
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-13
Updated: 2020-09-13
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:40:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26444305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jencsi/pseuds/jencsi
Summary: The more the merrier.
Relationships: Julie "Finn" Finlay/Nick Stokes
Comments: 1
Kudos: 4





	Surprises

Finn balanced the key to her condo in one hand while carrying two hot pizza boxes in the other. She used her leg to pop open the door and motion for Emily to scoot inside. Finn kicked the door shut with her foot and set the pizzas down on the kitchen counter top. 

“Go wash up please and thank you and then we will eat,” she reminded Emily who obeyed and walked around the kitchen area and over to the bathroom. Finn set her purse and keys down on the chair and started to grab paper plates and napkins from the cupboard when she heard a scream. 

Emily came running from the entryway of the bathroom, careening around the corner, crying out for Finn. 

“Aunt Julie, there’s a man in the bathroom!” she cried, latching on to Finn’s side.

“What?” she exclaimed, stunned, thinking it had to be something else. 

She didn’t hesitate, reaching for her gun on top of the refrigerator and fumbling with the safety, preparing to take down anyone who would try and hurt them. In the ten seconds it took to react, loud footsteps came hurrying around the corner and both girls screamed. 

“Relax, it’s just me,” Nick said, holding up his arms in defense. 

“What the hell?” Finn exclaimed “you scared the crap out of us, what are you doing here? I thought you had that conference in Hawaii?”

“We finished up early and I came home last night,” Nick explained “I wanted to surprise you but you weren’t home so I decided to wait.” 

Both Finn and Nick fell silent, wondering what to say next in this awkward transition.

“Sorry,” Nick said sheepishly for what good it would do. 

Finn sighed, locked the safety on her gun and placed it back on top of the refrigerator before turning back to Nick. Emily still had her arms wrapped around Finn, leaning against her side, clearly shaken up by this visitor. 

“You should have called,” Finn said, patting the child's head. 

“Are we okay?” Nick asked, glancing at the child pressed up against Finn. 

“She’s fine,” Finn said protectively. 

“All right then,” Nick said, peering at the little girl with interest. 

“Honey why don’t you go wash up now?” Finn suggested to Emily now that the bathroom was safe and clear. 

“Okay,” she said but hesitated one more minute before she let go of Finn and walked slowly around Nick, back towards the bathroom, void of strangers. 

Nick watched her disappear into the bathroom then turned back to Finn. 

“What the hell?” he whispered and Finn braced her hands on the counter. 

“I wanted to tell you about her,” Finn began apologetically “but it just happened, Russell and I were called to a crime scene, her parents died from carbon monoxide poisoning but she was at a sleepover, she was going to be taken into foster care Nicky, I had to do something.”

Nick nodded, knowing of Sara’s trials and tribulations through the system as a child and of numerous other children displaced by violence and death. 

“It’s okay,” he soothed Finn who sounded close to tears, “you did the right thing.”

“I’m keeping her,” Finn concluded, tears in her eyes “I know we never talked about having kids or where we stand and all that but I had to save her, Nicky, I couldn’t let her go.”

She could no longer hold back the tears and they came spilling out. She turned her back to him, wiping her eyes clumsily with her hand, hoping to stop them before Emily returned. Finn felt Nick’s hands grab her shoulders and squeeze, hugging her from behind. 

“You’re not going to do this alone,” Nick said “I don’t care how we got here, but I won’t let you down, or her, I want to be here for you both, if you’ll have me.”

He feared her rejection, her fierce independent spirit calling her to raise this little girl alone, but she turned in his arms, piercing him with a sad look as she wept “Really?” 

“Yes,” he promised “it might take some time for her to trust me, but I’m not going anywhere.”

A smile spread across her face and she sighed, relieved that one of her biggest worries was just lifted from her chest. They both heard a rustling sound from behind them and turned to see Emily opening the pizza box but struggling to lift it completely because she was too short to reach the counter. 

“Hey cutie,” Finn said, stepping around Nick to get to her “c’mere for a minute.”

Emily padded over to Finn and held her arms out so Finn could lift her into hers. She bounced her playfully on her hip before turning to face Nick. 

“Emily this is my very sweet and very nice friend Nick,” she explained “we work together at the police station.”

“Are you Aunt Julie’s boyfriend?” Emily asked.

“Yes,” Nick said, smirking at how quickly she picked up on it. 

“Are you a policeman too?” Emily asked. 

“Sort of,” Nick said, sparing her the details of their job. 

Emily gave him the full glance up and down, her little arms wrapped lazily around Finn as she clung to her. 

When she spoke again, she asked simply “Do you like pizza?”

“Definitely,” Nick said, relieved she was not scared of him anymore. 

The group sat around the kitchen counter, settled on the tall bar stools that adorned the space, munching on the pizza. 

“Why were you hiding in the bathroom?” Emily asked Nick. 

“I wanted to surprise Aunt Julie,” he said, smirking at being able to use her nickname. It sounded funny coming from him and Finn could not hide her eye roll. 

“I haven’t seen her in a few weeks and I missed her but I didn’t know she had you with her,” Nick explained.

“It was scary,” Emily said “then funny.”

She grinned and hunched her shoulders down as if embarrassed for reacting the way she did. 

“Yeah it was kind of funny,” Nick agreed. 

After finishing her pizza, Emily declared “I want to watch TV.” 

“Ok but not for too long,” Finn said, struggling to set boundaries for her just yet. 

Emily hopped off her stool and disappeared into the bedroom where Nick could hear the muffled sounds from the TV begin a few seconds later. Finn started cleaning up the pizza plates and napkins, storing the leftovers in the fridge and wiping down the counter of grease and crumbs. Nick watched her, wanting to say something but struggling to find the words. Instead all he could ask was “Can I watch TV too?” with a smirk and an obvious joking tone. 

Finn whipped the dish towel at him playfully. 

Once she had wiped down the counter she moved to the living room and started picking up the toys that had scattered all over the floor and various furniture. She sorted the stuffed animals into a basket and the dolls into a plastic bin while the plastic farm and zoo animals collection went into a separate bin. Nick could not take his eyes off her as she moved around, sighing, but handling each item with care 

“Where did all this come from?” Nick asked. 

“Emily’s house,” Finn explained “once PD cleared it as an inactive crime scene, we went back and started packing up some of her things a little at a time, her old room is almost empty but I have no idea what to do with the rest of the house.” 

She examined a Barbie doll with a blue dress on and hair tied up in a ponytail before adding it to the doll bin. 

“We managed to fit all her clothes in my closet and dresser and her bed is in my storage unit for now,” Finn continued “I’ll probably move the treadmill into storage and set up a bedroom for her in its place over by the windows which are going to need better curtains.” 

Nick felt overwhelmed for her, but at the same time, proud of what she was doing. He saw her run her hand through her hair while balancing one of the storage bins on her hip. 

“Hey,” Nick said softly now “put that down and come here.” 

She looked at him, with his arms outstretched towards her wearing that goofy grin. She set the box down and shuffled over to him, sinking right into his lap and awaiting arms which wrapped around her tight. He pulled her with him as he leaned back on the couch. 

“Why don’t the both of you pack up some stuff and come stay at my place for a few days?” He offered “it will give you both more space and Emily can meet Sam and the three of us can figure out a way to make this work, even if that means moving you both into my house.” 

As much as Finn knew that would give them proper space and make Emily feel more at ease, she loved her condo and was loyal to the independence it provided for herself and now for Emily. 

“That sounds great,” she told him, fingers playing with the collar of his shirt “we would both love to stay with you, but, let’s hold off on moving in completely until things settle down.” 

“Absolutely,” he promises, kissing her temple, reassuring her that there was no pressure. 

Finn sighed. It was nice to have someone like Nick to understand and listen to her worries. As confident as she felt taking Emily in, she was also terrified. She didn’t know how to be a parent. 

“What have the guys said about all this?” Nick asked now.

“Well Sara’s been the most helpful,” Finn explained “watching Emily when I need her to, getting me in touch with a lawyer and an advocate to help navigate the social workers lingo but the social worker has been very kind too.” 

“I’ll help you too,” Nick promised “we can work opposite shifts so someone is always with her, when school starts, I can drive her, pick her up, help her with her homework, it’ll be fun.”

Finn smiled, loving how excited he seemed to be for this new challenge. 

“You are wonderful,” she praised him “Emily’s shy but I think she’ll start to love you soon enough.”

“Love,” Nick repeated hearing her say it casually for the first time “you love me?”

“Well yeah,” Finn said, feeling her cheeks flush red, wondering if she said it too soon or in the wrong moment “I thought it was pretty obvious, don’t you think?”

“Yeah,” Nick said grinning at her sentiments and how smitten they were in this moment. 

When he kissed her, they lingered, shifting his hold on her. They had been apart for a few weeks now and she had not realized how much she missed him with all the chaos. When she almost slipped out of his lap, he caught her and squeezed her side, making her giggle into the kiss. 

“Careful,” he whispered, keeping his fingers pressed into her side, tickling. 

“Or what?” she bit back knowing exactly where this was going. 

His fingers pinching her side suddenly made her yelp and burst out laughing, squirming in his arms, completely at his mercy but loving every second of this play. 

Through all the laughter and chaos, a soft voice called out timidly “What are you doing?” 

Finn gasped as she heard Emily call out, grabbing at Nick’s hand, making him stop, sitting up in his lap, addressing the little girl who was standing between the kitchen and living room, watching them with interest. 

“Nothing honey,” she quickly tried to cover, cheeks turning red again.

“I heard you scream again,” Emily said twisting her hands together nervously. 

“I’m fine,” Finn assured the child but continued to squirm because Nick kept his hand slipped under her shirt, fingers digging into her side. 

She let out a muffled squeak in protest and bit her lip, silently warning him to stop but losing the battle to maintain composure. Emily’s eyes darted from Nick to Finn, seeming to read the situation. Finn prayed she would simply slip quietly back into the bedroom to watch TV but instead she raced towards them and shrieked happily “I want to play too!” 

Nick was quick in his reflexes, catching Emily in his open arm and lifting her up onto the couch with ease. Finn gasped again, shocked by the shift in Emily’s behavior as Nick embraced them both at the same time and tickled. But she was still a kid after all and fun was her forte. Hearing the child laugh and watching her tickle back was sweet and comforting to know that she was still a true kid at heart. Finn realized she was in trouble though when she heard; 

“Get her,” Nick instructed Emily and they were both tickling her. 

This time she slipped right out of Nick’s lap and fell back onto the couch, catching Emily in her arms and pulling her backwards with her, tickling back, laughing hysterically at their game. It was the hardest both of them had laughed in ages and it felt wonderful. 

When Emily had enough, she wiggled out of Finn's grasp and started jumping up and down on the empty side of the couch. She leapt back into Nick's open arms, squealing “Catch me” before she jumped. He caught her and let her climb all over him. Finn smiles at their play, still laying back on the couch, legs stretched across Nick's lap. After a few rounds of this, Emily complained “I’m tired” and Finn reached out to her, pulling her to lay on the couch, cuddling her in her arms, brushing her hair and patting her back. 

“That was fun” Emily told them “you’re both funny”

Then she nestled against Finn, head tucked under her chin, resting quietly, catching her breath. Finn exchanged glances with Nick, happy for this moment of normalcy for this sweet child and for herself, being able to be close to her and know she was accepting her. 

Nick watched over the girls as they lay resting, chatting quietly with Finn as Emily started to doze. He watched Finn brush the child’s hair over and over, pressing kisses to her forehead and keeping her arms around her tightly. Seeing her so delicate and gentle was making him fall in love with her even more. It didn’t matter how they got here, but it seemed a family life was in store for him after only one day back in town and he couldn’t wait to spend more time with his girls.


End file.
